# What "old news" candidate would you like to see again? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 21, 2015, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-news-candidate-would-you-like-to-see-again/710530 "2015-01-21T23:18:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-news-candidate-would-you-like-to-see-again/710530/101 "2015-02-03T20:13:09Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Dodging the point. He won by a smaller margin in a lower turnout election. Factually incorrect. 2008 voter turnout: 57.48% 2012 voter turnout: 57.50% [Cite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_by_popular_vote_margin) Barrack Obama’s 2008 vote total (69,498,516) was the highest ever. His 2012 vote total (65,915,796) was the second highest of all time. If you want to paint that as a failure on his part you’re free to do so, but when you beat everyone except a previous version of yourself in most fields, you’re doing pretty well. More people have voted for Barrack Obama for president than any other person in history. Top five… 1. Barack Obama 135,414,312 2. Richard Nixon 113,060,650 (3 elections) 3. George W. Bush 112,500,720 4. Franklin Roosevelt 103,500,786 (4 elections) 5. Ronald Reagan 98,358,702 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-news-candidate-would-you-like-to-see-again/710530/102 "2015-02-03T22:05:55Z")
While it’s true that more people have voted for Obama, that’s hardly relevant, given that the primary reason for that is increasing population. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-news-candidate-would-you-like-to-see-again/710530/103 "2015-02-03T23:48:28Z")
As always Lance, treat wikipedia with caution. Their article on the 2008 election says that turnout was 61%: > **[2008 United States presidential election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008)** > > George W. Bush > Republican > Barack Obama > Democratic > The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American to be elected to the presidency, a... Other sources: > **[National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960-2014](https://www.infoplease.com/us/government/elections/national-voter-turnout-in-federal-elections-1960-2014)** > > This page provides information about voter statistics, including age of voting population, voter registration, turnout, and more. Year Voting-agepopulation Voterregistration Voter turnout Turnout of voting-age population (percent) 2014 245,712,915 NA... > **[2008 Election Turnout Hit 40-Year High](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2008-election-turnout-hit-40-year-high/)** > > More Than 131 Million People Voted 61.6 Percent Of Eligible Voters I think it’s an error your wiki article. I went to its source and it said 2008 saw higher turnout: [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/turnout.php](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/turnout.php) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-news-candidate-would-you-like-to-see-again/710530/104 "2015-02-11T19:41:26Z")
Those turnout numbers are unofficial because the FEC doesn’t publish turnout figures for about 10 years following each election. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-news-candidate-would-you-like-to-see-again/710530.md?page=5)